Payton says he and Iverson were out one summer, having a good time and drinking, and Iverson asked Payton for his secret to keeping his body in good shape. Payton told Iverson that his coach with the Seattle SuperSonics, George Karl, kept him out of practice to preserve his body.

“That was it. I [told Iverson] ‘you have to stop practicing!’” Payton recalled.

Payton says that conversation inspired Iverson’s rant, though the former MVP guard got the intonations all wrong when he said the word “practice.”

“I was like ‘don’t do it like that!’” Payton said with a laugh.

Payton says word of his advice got back to former Sixers coach Larry Brown, who later confronted Payton after a game between the teams for “creating” the situation.

Iverson of course simply was trying to explain that his lack of practice was not the reason the Sixers were eliminated that year.